Isla Lara Lucia

Isla Lara Lucia has been a state licensed therapist and massage instructor for over 30 years. Passionate about all things related to wellness, she has a diverse background in dance, yoga, martial arts, meditation, and fitness training. Isla also has a strong interest in many spiritual paths and is an avid advocate of meditation, a practice she does twice daily.

All this –combined with her deep interest in the biological sciences and nutrition –aid her in assisting clients with their various health and wellness needs and goals. 

​Isla’s many experiences include: working in hospitals/nursing homes/medical rehabilitative centers; working with AIDS/HIV impacted individuals; working with sexual abuse survivors; and working with cancer patients (breast cancer being the largest group in her personal experience); and assisting those recovering from strokes.

Isla has also worked with special populations of children and adults including those diagnosed with autism, severe emotional disorders, mental illness, attention deficit and other learning disabilities. ​​And she holds advanced degrees in clinical psychology and criminal justice administration and has worked in the substance abuse treatment field with holistic techniques.

Isla was honored for her pioneering work in the field of restorative justice and known for outstanding community service and volunteerism in some of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the United States. The greatest recognition came in 2001 when President Bush Family’s Points of Light Foundation selected her as 1 of 10 in the nation for a GOAL award. ​

Martina Kowalke

23 years Experience Serving Clients in the United States and Europe (Massage and Cosmetology)

Martina comes to BEST courtesy of the beautiful country of Czechoslovakia where she began practicing in 1996. She graduated from the College of Cosmetology in 1995 and the Franz Behr Institute of Sports and Swedish massage in 1996, both in her home of birth. Since coming to the United States she has continued her education at Anthem college in Wisconsin and the Phoenix School of Holistic Health and Massage, Arizona.

She has lived and worked in several states in the US, but is now settling in the Hill Country with her son and a loving man from Texas.

Martina has an excellent “bed-side manner” – soft when required for delicate or frail clients and strong in working with athletes and those requiring deeper tissue techniques.
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Like Isla, she is interested in working on the whole being with her clients. She has a strong interest in herbal medicine and hand-makes many lotions and creams she uses in facials and skin treatments.

Martina, like Isla, is also trained in a wide-range of massage modalities, including medical massage techniques such as cupping, fascial therapy, and lymphatic drainage massage, and ultra sound therapies, to name just as few.

She is a stellar and much needed addition to BEST.